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Incoming Cadillac team principal Marcin Budkowski says he will look at whether the team is getting the most out of its Ferrari power unit, including any performance that can be found through energy management. Budkowski said: "We've seen this year... that there's a lot of performance to be unlocked in understanding the intricacies of the energy management mostly, and that's a performance differentiator. I think that's something we need to look at in the team as well. Are we making the most of the hardware we are getting? There's always going to be an element of the supplier will not necessarily share all the tricks of the trade for how to extract the maximum performance. That's a fair game."
Lance Stroll says Formula 1âs 2026 power-unit rules should allow drivers to get the power they ask for, with the current battery management contributing to âyo-yoâ racing. Stroll said: "Then we do an overtake, and we have to recharge for two laps, or things like this, and I think proper racing should be: you put your foot down for a certain amount of power, that's what you get. If you put down 50% power, you get 50% power, and if 100%, you get 100%, that's what I think it should be."
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says he has been relieved to see Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri working âeven strongerâ together this season, after concerns their relationship could suffer following their 2025 title fight. Stella said: "It wasn't a given that, after last year â when they found themselves battling for the world title right up to the final race â the harmony they'd built would remain intact. Yet not only has this not changed, but the relationship between them and with the team has actually become even stronger. And whilst this might, in a sense, have been expected of Lando⌠it was not quite so predictable for Oscar."
Gabriel Bortoleto says he has a long-term contract with Audi that will keep him at the Formula 1 team for the next few seasons. Bortoleto said: "As far as I can say, because it's something confidential, let's just say there are no clauses. I have a long-term contract with Audi. I've already said it: I'll be with Audi next year, and not only next year, but for the following years as well."
Mercedes technical director James Allison says Formula 1 teams are seeing an âenormousâ rate of progress under the new regulations, with wind-tunnel aerodynamic gains âsix or seven times greaterâ than last season. James Allison said: "One of the defining characteristics of this regulation cycle is just how immature the regulations still are. Development rates are enormous compared to previous years. On the aerodynamic side, the gain rate we're seeing in the wind tunnel is roughly six or seven times greater than it was last season. It's roughly half a second every couple of months."
Lewis Hamilton says seeing Ferrari deliver the innovations and changes he asked for after his 2025 struggles has left him feeling âreleasedâ to do what he âdoes bestâ. Hamilton said: "Itâs nice to be in a period where, for example, last year one of the things I was like was: 'Where is our innovation?' Ferrari should be the innovators; they should be the ones that all the teams are trying to copy. This year you see us arrive with innovative things that other people have followed, and there is a lot more innovation coming, which is really exciting."
Nico Rosberg says it ânever cameâ to a discussion with Toto Wolff over firing him and Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in 2016, despite internal discussions after their Spanish Grand Prix crash. Rosberg said: "It never came to that fired thing, no. But I know he actually had internal discussions with the big boss, Dieter Zetsche. About taking that step as a⌠I don't think it was⌠probably a suspension or something, would have been a first step, for a race, something like that."
Toto Wolff says Mercedes race engineer Peter Bonningtonâs calm influence and close day-to-day working relationship with Kimi Antonelli has been a clear advantage in the 19-year-oldâs development. Wolff said: "Bono is the engineer who is closest to him. So all of the preparation, all of the debriefing happens with Bono. He's a very calm and balanced engineer, and that certainly has spilled over to Kimi; there's no big emotions on either side. There's no panic when it doesn't go around well, and there is no exuberance when it goes well. So that's Bono's character; clearly it is an advantage."
Max Verstappen says Red Bullâs âbig priorityâ for the second half of the 2026 season is to find more overall performance and stop the team losing performance over the course of a weekend or even during a race. Verstappen said: "We need to first find more overall performance. And then we need to fix our problems, where we sometimes just lose performance over a weekend, or even from the start of the race to the end. So, yeah, that is actually a big priority."
Charles Leclerc says he is not worried about Ferrariâs cost-cap position, despite Toto Wolff questioning how the team can keep bringing upgrades at such a rate. Leclerc said: "On that, I trust Fred more than anything. I'm sure Fred is on top of that. So am I worried? I am not, because I fully trust Fred, and I know that he knows what he's doing."
George Russell says he still has scars on his hips from squeezing into Lewis Hamiltonâs Mercedes race seat when he was called up for the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix after Hamilton tested positive for COVID-19. George Russell said: "I got the phone call on the Tuesday. I jumped in the car on Wednesday to see if I fit, and I did not. It was Lewis and Valtteri Bottas, who were the two drivers at the time. They are quite a bit shorter than me. I've also got quite big flipper feet as well, which is quite tight in a Formula 1 car. And I was scrunched in, bent over, my shoes didn't fit."
Mercedes technical director James Allison says the team is ânot as satisfiedâ as he would like to be with its start to the season, despite heading into the summer break leading both championships after losing points through reliability issues. Allison said: "It may sound a little churlish, but probably not as satisfied as I would like to be. If somebody had offered us that position before the season started, I'd have taken it immediately. But given the competitiveness of the car we've had this year, I think we should have scored more points than we have. There's a degree of frustration about that across the team."
Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss says rumours linking the team with young drivers for a potential 2027 race seat are ânot substantiatedâ, while stressing that âthings can always changeâ in Formula 1. Towriss said: "I'll throw the caveat though. It's Formula 1. Things can always change. There are no changes planned at the moment for '27, but things can always change. I know there's been some of the rumours out there with some of the young drivers. They're not substantiated, so that's not something I would focus on."
Toto Wolff says it is âtoo earlyâ to call Kimi Antonelli the Formula 1 title favourite despite the Mercedes driver holding a 50-point lead at the midpoint of the season, pointing to the number of races still to come and his teamâs reliability. Toto Wolff said: "It's too early to say. I'm superstitious. Even though the gap is 50 points, there are so many races to go. A DNF or two can just swing things massively, and we've not been great on reliability."
McLaren Racing Director Randeep Singh said a change in leadership under Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella has removed a âblame cultureâ at the team, which he credits with empowering staff as McLarenâs revival led to a double championship last season. Singh said: "The main thing is just the leadership changed with Andrea and Zak, and I think that's just empowered everyone to go about their jobs. There's no blame. There's none of that here. You just get on with constantly improving. Good things, bad things, and you treat them the same way. So that's really empowering."
Colton Herta says his first Formula 2 season has been an âeye-openingâ experience, with adapting to Pirelli tyres without blankets the biggest challenge as he targets a potential Formula 1 race seat with Cadillac. Herta said: "I would say the tyre [is the biggest challenge]. I think the Pirelli, specifically coming from cold, without having the tire blankets, it's quite particular. If anything, it kind of sets you up nicely because it's easier when you get to Formula 1, because once you have the tyre blankets, it's all about maintaining temperature, not bringing it from whatever it might be, 30, 40 degrees, to what it gets to. So if anything, I think it simplifies it a little bit."
Liam Lawson says his unusual route into Formula 1, joining as a reserve and filling in for races, has left him feeling less experienced than people might assume despite having been around the sport for a long time. Lawson said: "I came into Formula 1 in a very strange way compared to most other people. I came in as a reserve, filling in for some races. I did that sort of for two seasons before I even got my initial shot. So yeah, I have a different introduction to F1 than most people, and it's meant that I've actually been in the sport for quite a long time. So I definitely don't feel very experienced, but I guess maybe I'm viewed that way."
Arvid Lindblad's manager Oliver Rowland says Liam Lawson has been the "perfect benchmark" for the 19-year-old alongside him at Racing Bulls in Formula 1. Rowland said: "He is the perfect benchmark for us. I mean, this guy has got more experience, is a little bit older. He's also very, very calm, and there are no games going on, which is really, really refreshing, actually, for someone so young, and it just helps the team focus on what they want to do."
PlanetF1.com reports that Formula 2 leader Nikola Tsolov will complete his first Formula 1 test later this month with Racing Bulls at Imola, driving the teamâs 2025 VCARB02 under Testing of a Previous Car rules alongside its final filming day of the year. Tsolov, who does not yet have the FIA Super Licence, is being given the outing to build mileage, with Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer previously saying the team was considering a TPC test because he âneeds a licence to drive in Friday practice sessionsâ and is âstill lacking a few kilometresâ.
King Willem-Alexander will present the winnerâs trophy at this yearâs Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, marking his first official visit to a sporting event in the Netherlands to hand over a prize. He and Queen MĂĄxima have attended the race regularly since its return in 2021, but previously only in a private capacity. The Dutch Grand Prix runs from 21-23 August and is set to be Zandvoortâs final appearance on the F1 calendar before it drops off in 2027.
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